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KY Quota Hunt

TN Larry said:
We started putting in for KY WMA hunts 8 yrs ago and decided to cash in 7 priority points this year. I did a lot of research on where I wanted to go and got some great information on different WMAs through PM on here. Very much appreciated!

My son and I came up two weeks ago to scout and familiarize ourselves with the place. We spent Fri, Sat, and a few hrs Sun walking and exploring. I was blown away by the management of the place compared to TN WMAs that I've been on.

We found a lot of deer and buck sign and settled on plan A. I climbed a tree in a travel spot that was thick with acorns and scattered buck sign everywhere. My son was about 275 yds North of me in another travel spot on the edge of a clear cut with some big rubs.

We got in early this morning to beat the crowd. I heard some deer above me as I got to my tree with acorns falling everywhere. I heard some more deer below me as I was climbing the tree. I got settled in, and my son said he had a deer come above him and acorns falling everywhere as well.

As it got legal shooting light, a deer came down a point right in front of me, but I could only see about 20 yds at the time. It was about 40 and at a constant walk and couldn't see it. A few minutes later, a small buck came under me. I thought we were about to see a boat load of deer based on the activity to that point. My son ended up seeing 5 including a small buck and a couple unknowns. We heard a bunch of shots so was confident deer were moving. We never saw another deer this morning but was settled in for the day.

Lunch came and went and the day actually went by fast. I still have a little cough from being sick a few weeks ago and even after eating cough drops all day still had a few slip out. The wind also blew every direction imaginable. I really didn't care which direction even though I had a preference as long as it stayed consistent. It didn't. Lol.

At about 4:45, I decided to stand up to pee and get one last drink of water prior to the end of shooting light. I was turned to the right looking over my shoulder doing my thing. After I got finished, I looked up in the direction I was looking and spotted a decent buck coming towards me. I sat down and grabbed my gun. I couldn't tell a whole lot about him. He got to about 25 yards and was just milling around. I had decided I wasn't going to shoot him, but he was still in the thick stuff so hard to gauge. He stepped in the open a little and I saw he had a huge body and a tall rack. I still wasn't shooting. He then caught my wind a little bit and turned to walk away. He looked real good at that point. I knew he wasn't a giant but a solid deer and looked like a bull calf with a huge neck. He turned and started straight away from me and at some point I decided that I had enough. I'm not really sure when I decided to shoot, but the safety went off and the gun went off as he turned broadsided. I thought, well I guess we're doing this. Lol. It's the first deer shot with the new Bergara 308 that I bought last December. I could tell he was hit and stumbling, but he toted it like a man out of sight. I heard him crash and then instantly had a "did you get him" text from my son.

I got down and headed towards where he was standing and found blood pretty quick. He didn't go far but farther than I thought he would. He stunk and couldn't get over how big his neck was. I field dressed him and took my stand to the truck to get the sled. I got back to him and had a hard time getting him in the sled by myself. It wasn't steep but had a gradual up hill drag about 300 yds. I got him a pretty good ways before my son got to me after sitting til dark to help me the rest of the way. The sled is a game changer for dragging one out.

He's a little smaller than what I had planned to shoot but still super happy. He's the biggest body deer that I've ever killed at 159.5 lbs. I thought he was bigger weight wise and even the game wardens at the check in station thought he was. They aged him at 3.5, but I'm pretty sure by looking at him on the hoof that he's 4.5. He didn't even look like he had a neck and what made me pull the trigger. I'll look at his teeth myself tomorrow when I skin him out.

I was also able to get the custom knife from Shag bloody this afternoon as well which makes it sweeter. First deer with new gun and knife. Very blessed and thank the good Lord for an awesome day in the deer woods.

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My son is headed to plan B spot in the morning. Found an awesome spot yesterday with a huge rub and fresh scrape. Probably the prettiest funnel I've seen here. Stayed tuned for day 2……

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A 3.5 on public is always a good buck. On a quota, you shoot it ...especially if you don't have a full season ahead of you out of state.
 
Mid day update……we were the first ones to parking spot this morning, and he headed in with my gun. Lol.

I waited around for him to get in tree and see if someone else was coming. There was another truck that came in about 30 mins after that had hunted there yesterday. They were pretty close to him but still a hundred directions a deer can come.

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Bad news is he only saw one deer this morning. Good news is it was a shooter a little bigger than my deer antler wise but not body wise. Worse news is it busted him. He saw it crossing the creek about 40 yds. He saw it was a shooter and was easing his gun around when it got to about 25 yds. All of the sudden squirrels went crazy at something getting the deer's attention which resulted in it catching him moving. He left before he could get a shot. He then had someone walk in on him from another road. He's pretty bummed, but I told him to keep his head up. He could kill a bigger deer this afternoon.

He's decided to change trees and make a long walk way up the hollow for this afternoon's hunt. Hopefully, it will come together this afternoon for him.
 
In the mean time, I snoozed about an hour in the truck and then drove around the area seeing where people are hunting. I stopped by and chatted with the game wardens and then came back to skin the deer out. I put him in a deer cooler last night.

He's now deboned and on ice. I'm now kicked back on the porch watching the head boil. Got to get him to CWD guidelines to transport him back.

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I'm just waiting on the call from him to come help drag. I may go walk in one area for future reference if there's still not someone there after I get done. It's pretty hot and I'm pretty comfortable so may not either. Lol.
 
Well, no dice for my son today. I ended up going and sitting with him this afternoon. We saw one small buck that walked right over top of us and one unidentified. This year was a slow year as far as numbers killed here so blessed to bring one back home. It should have been two though. He said he got down and stood where the deer was standing and have no idea how it busted him. Until next time…….
 
TN Larry said:
Well, no dice for my son today. I ended up going and sitting with him this afternoon. We saw one small buck that walked right over top of us and one unidentified. This year was a slow year as far as numbers killed here so blessed to bring one back home. It should have been two though. He said he got down and stood where the deer was standing and have no idea how it busted him. Until next time…….
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Glad y'all had a great time and got to learn the area for next time. Hate he didn't kill but y'all have a great weekend either way.
 

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